For a country where fencing is relatively unknown, the gold medal will help promote the sport, South Korea's top sabre fencer and world No. 3 Gu Bongil said.

"Some people may think that we were not expected to win but we had faith in ourselves. We focused as individuals but we didn't win any medals then so we gave it our all on the team," world No. 3 Gu Bongil said of his fellow gold medal winners.

Another motivation for gold was the controversial loss for teammate Shin A Lam in the women's epee semi final.

The resetting of the bout clock in error resulted in a split second loss to Germany's Britta Heidemann, denying the South Korean a chance for gold. After a dramatic 90 minute delay she finished fourth on the day.

"We felt very sorry for her and tried even harder to get a medal, not so much to comfort her but to try to make everyone feel better," Gu said.

Shin has a chance for epee team gold on Saturday.

South Korean coach, Lee Wook Jae, said the programme started preparing for London right after Beijing with an intent to develop its own techniques.

"It is Korean style. We worked very hard on footwork, to have speedy legs because our opponents are slower," Lee said.

The men's sabre win marked South Korea's second team fencing medal at the London Games but its first ever gold. They won bronze in the women's team foil on Thursday.